The Ilocos Times

  Conflicts arise when personal interests collide. This is now front and center at the Laoag City Sangguniang Panlungsod as two warring factions are duking it out for the city government's 2019 annual budget. The budget proposal, submitted October 16, 2018, remains unpassed for months, and was disapproved via vote of 7-5 in a special session on January 3, 2019. Though unlike in the Unites States of America where an unapproved budget results in a shutdown, Philippine laws call for an automatic reenactment of the last approved budget when this happens. But what will happen to a local government operating on a reenacted budget? All operations are hampered: from basic services to employee salaries and city government projects. This is so as the city government is forced to operate using last year's budget. And common sense dictates that past expenditures are usually lower than present expenditures; more so in the face of high inflation rates last year. It

Babaen ti pinangidaulo ni Mayor Maximo Cajigal, nagbalin a natalna, napintas ken naragsak ti ili iti Badoc. Daytoy a panagdur-as ket nagun-od babaen   ti panangibabaet ni Apo Sta. Maria, La Virgen Milagrosa de Badoc ken ti Patron iti ili a ni San Juan Bautista kasta met iti panagkaykaysa dagiti umili. Iti laeng uneg ti dua a tawen ken innem a bulan ket adun ti nagapuanan ti Baro A Badoc. Iti kangrunaan a sinolbar ti administrasyon ket dagiti kaso a mainaig iti illegal nga droga kasta met ti pannakatagiben ti linak ken talna. Idi tawen 2015, umabot ti 117 ti bilang iti crime volume, ita nga tawen bimmaba ti bilang ket agdagop laengen ti 56 segun ti kamaudian a datos. Ita a tawen, nangilatang iti administrasyon   iti P 640,000.00 a pondo para iti scholarship program. Kasta met a naidonar dagiti lote a pagpatakderen ti school buildings. Dagiti saan nga sakup ti Special Education Fund (SEF) nga pagkasapulan ti pagadalan ket inikkan tulong iti agdama nga dministrasyon.

Naimbag a damag para kadagiti deboto ni Apo Santa Maria. Naaprobaranen ti panagbalin ti St. John the Baptist Church iti ili a Badoc a kas basilica minore. Inbunannag mismo daytoy ni Bishop Renato Mayugba iti nasapa a paset idi Disiembre. Narambakan iti maysa a misa iti panagyaman idi Dis. 27. Mainaig iti daytoy a pasamak, dakkel a suporta ti naggapo kadagiti umili nga idadaulwan ni Mayor Maximo Cajigal ken ti panangtarabay ni ABC President Virgilio Calajate tapnu magun-odda daytoy a gagem. Dakkel a tulong daytoy iti itantandudo ni Gobernadora Imee Marcos ken ti gobierno probinsial nga agbalin a kabbaro a destinasion iti ili para iti “faith tourism”. Iti baet daytoy, kinuna ni Municipal Tourism Officer Mr. Cesar Jade Raquel a kadagitoy pay laeng a gundaway ket namnamaendan a dayuen dagiti turista ti ilida a kas iti panagdudupudop dagiti deboto iti Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary idiay Manaoag, Pangasinan. Ni Mrs. Josephine Prieto Calajate, Ilocos Norte Pr

In the not-so-distant past, Badoc was infamous for a lot of things—all of them violent. Recently, however, the province’s southernmost town has undergone a complete makeover: it is now the newest tourist “hot spot”. From being an election “hot spot” to the upstart and upcoming tourism attraction in the province; Badoc’s transformation can be attributed to the municipality’s new mayor, Maximo D. Cajigal. From a crime volume of 117 in 2015—the year before Mr. Cajigal took the reins of power—it went down to 107 in 2016. The steep drop in the 2017 crime volume to 60 signaled that the town is ready for change. And as Badoc became a new tourist destination, the crime volume last year further dropped to 56. Badoc’s new leadership proved that their campaign battle cry of “Baro a Badoc” [A New Badoc] in 2016 was not just rhetoric; it was a vision which they strove hard to realize in the last three years. And realized it they did. Badoc’s tourist arrivals, which was in

By Reynaldo E. Andres Contributor BADOC, Ilocos Norte—Mayor Maximo D. Cajigal of this town has promised his constituents that he will pursue a clean, honest and peaceful elections this year amid speculations of an impending trouble that would erupt between his group and that of his rivals. “I have already mobilized the Philippine National Police (PNP) so that all things will go smoothly as we start the political campaign this year,” Mr. Cajigal said, vowing to end the town’s reputation as the most troubled election hot spot in the province for years. Previous situations have shown that Badoc has become an election “hot spot” in Ilocos Norte amidst reports that it has allegedly become the haven of loose firearms and hired killers. Police records in 2009 showed a suspected hired killer linked to the murder of Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) President Rey Ruiz was gunned down at Brgy. Saud here. And just after the 2016 national elections, the br

Laoag Mayor Chevylle V. Farinas welcomes  Naval Task Force 11  commander and Naval Force for Northern Luzon deputy commander Capt. Karl A. Decapia PN (GSC) during his courtesy to the mayor. (Alwin Formantes)

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter LAOAG CITY—Motorists trying to avoid everyday traffic in the city proper can now smile with relief as the Laoag City bypass road is now officially open. The bypass road was temporarily opened during the All-Saints’ Day and Christmas holidays to ease traffic along the city’s downtown area. With the resumption of work and school day on January 3, 2019, traffic in downtown Laoag went on smoothly as some motorists opted to take the alternate route going to the city’s Laoag International Airport area. From Vintar, Ilocos Norte, Karl Lenin Benigno, an employee of a Laoag university along the Airport Ave. shared his excitement over social media saying his “[T]ravel time to work is now only 15 minutes on normal speed” as compared before when he would be stuck in traffic for more or less 30 minutes at the Gilbert Bridge. “I guess I personally have to thank the good congressman [Rep. Rodolfo “Rudy” C. Fariñas] for the wonderfu